Free Republic

The worst year in modern American history was unquestionably 1968, which in its first six months included the Tet Offensive, LBJ's surprise announcement that he would not seek re-election, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the subsequent riots that destroyed the cores of many American cities including, fatally, Detroit; and the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles. Still to come were the riots at the Democratic convention in Chicago, the "Black Power" salutes by American athletes at the Olympics in Mexico City, Richard Nixon's razor-thin victory over Hubert Humphrey in an election that saw a third-party candidate,...

A few additional notes regarding George Hawley’s fascinating look at dissent within the right: Notwithstanding the Trump Ascendancy, his belief that moderate libertarianism-or conservatarianism, as some have dubbed it-will exert the greatest influence over mainstream conservatism in the years ahead holds some merit. The disdain the modern conservative movement has for genuinely libertarian ideas is reflected in the figure of Jonah Goldberg, someone whom every group described in Professor Hawley’s book would view with contempt, at best. The fact that his publication has gone out of its way to publish writers who present a watered-down, libertarian lite perspective merely demonstrates...

"How Donald Trump Compares to George W. Bush Trump isn’t a pure movement conservative. But this is not a new problem for conservatives. William F. Buckley Jr. himself said George W. Bush was “conservative, but not a conservative,” and no one complained he’d destroy the conservative movement (until it was too late). Yet the comparison to George W. Bush is important and valuable in evaluating Trump’s conservatism or lack thereof, particularly when you consider that many of the #NeverTrump advocates come from the ranks of ex-W. enthusiasts and supporters."

One of the benefits of the Trump campaign, regardless of one’s thoughts on the merits of a Trump presidency, is its exposure of the conservative establishment. The irony of an undisciplined and at times extremely uncouth candidate, whose grasp of policy is tenuous, to say the least, obliterating the intellectual veneer of a movement with hundreds of millions of dollars in endowments and countless scholars at its disposal is one which will be endlessly analyzed in the years to come. Professor George Hawley’s book, Right-Wing Critics Of American Conservatism, does not seek to analyze or deconstruct the Trump phenomenon, but...

hDonald Trump, Sen. Mitch McConnell and other speakers are set to address the 2016 Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference in Washington, D.C. The conference is one of the largest events for religious conservative groups in the country. Trump’s speech marks an appeal to the evangelical voter base, whose support for Trump has taken some analysts by surprise. “Mr. Trump won a plurality of evangelical votes in the Republican primaries on his path to the nomination, and we welcome him to once again address members of Faith and Freedom and to express his views on the many issues of importance to...

To paraphrase the late Joe Sobran, hate speech is any speech liberals hate. Now that leading Web giants and the EU superstate have cemented a pact to target this pernicious threat to civilization, we’ll all have a better understanding of what exactly the egalitarian left considers to be hateful. The question remains, what do we to in order to make our voices heard in the face of an open conspiracy to silence them? The first step is refusing to be cowed into submission. A perfect response, which utilizes Twitter’s platform in order to expose the cowardice and hypocrisy of this...

Conservatives care about logic. Liberals care about emotion. Conservatives care about whether a program works or not. Liberals care about how supporting a program makes them feel. Conservatives take the positions they do because they believe they’re best for society. Liberals take the positions they do because they make them feel and look compassionate or superior to hold those positions. Once you understand those basics, it’s very easy to see why both sides hold the positions they do on most issues and to comprehend why there’s so little middle ground. Once you get the mentalities, you can predict where each...

Kesler is an expert in American political history and in the American Founding. He argues in our discussion that Trump represents a strain of Republicanism (and republicanism) that was mainstream from the time of Lincoln at least until the time of Hoover...

Daily Caller editor-in-chief and Fox News contributor Tucker Carlson is not happy with how Glenn Beck acted at the Facebook meeting for conservatives this week. In an interview, Carlson blasted the radio and television host, saying he was sucking up to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. "I went to that meeting expecting Beck to cry, rend his garments while quoting James Madison, but that's not at all what happened. He began the most extended assiduous suck-up I think I've ever seen a grown man commit. He acted like he was auditioning to be Mark Zuckerberg's manservant — it was awe-inspiring,' Carlson...

The Legacy Lives On! Mark’s Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation “Conservatism is the antidote to tyranny precisely because its principles are the founding principles.” --Mark Levin in Liberty and Tyranny Welcome to “The Levin Lounge”… Step in and have a virtual FRink.Taking the country by storm, one radio station at a time – and kicking the BUTTS of the competition! Welcome all, to the most FUN LIVE THREAD on FreeRepublic.com! You can call Mark’s show: 1-877-381-3811

Trump says he'll rebuild the U.S. military and our missile defense in particular, but avoid committing U.S. forces overseas. The neo-conservatives never will forgive him for this. It means that they are out of a job, and when they say that Trump means "the end of the Republican Party," they mean the end of the Republican Party that used to employ them. Robert Kagan and Max Boot have gone to the Clinton camp. A Trump presidency almost certainly means that Chinese and Russian influence will grow faster and with fewer obstacles than it might have otherwise. That is not entirely...

The Republican Party likes to present itself as the party of free enterprise. One of the enormous benefits of a free market is that it allows for experimentation in finding solutions to personal and social needs.

America's biggest -- and scariest -- problem: Most Americans no longer know what America stands for. For them, America has become just another country, a place located between Canada and Mexico. ... The left, unlike most Americans, has always understood that either the left is right, or America is right. America stands for small government, a free economy (and therefore, capitalism), liberty (which therefore allows for its inevitable consequence: inequality), the melting pot ideal and a God-centered population rooted in Judeo-Christian values (so that a moral society is created by citizens exercising self-control rather than relying on the state to...

Some have complained about my use of certain phrases in reference to the two major American political Parties. I therefore offer the following explanations for future reference: I call the Democrat Party the Party of Jim Crow because to this day, it stands for division on racial and class lines. it is elitist and holds that the majority cannot be trusted to run their own lives and need the "benevolent" management of those who are smarter, know more -- and are of better character. That is the essence of Progressivism, which itself is a socio-ideological carry-over from the Plantation owners'...

Newt Gingrich went on with Sean Hannity tonight after the Donald Trump’s Indiana blowout and after Ted Cruz suspended his campaign. Newt argued that Donald Trump could be the “the most effective anti-left leader in our lifetime.” Newt added that anyone who does not support Trump is supporting Hillary. First of all, Donald Trump may turn out to be the most effective anti-left leader in our lifetime. He is against political correctness. He is against bureaucracy. He places American nationalism first which I think we desperately need. I’m tired of being told we have to phony agreements and phony efforts...

George Washington University announced on April 25 its latest Battleground Poll. The single most resilient datum in the history of that poll has been the persistent conservative majority. Nothing has changed. The responses to Question D3 of that poll show that 55% of Americans identify themselves as either "Very Conservative" or "Somewhat Conservative," while 40% of Americans call themselves "Very Liberal" or "Somewhat Liberal." Excluding those who don't know or won't respond, conservatives constitute 58% of Americans. Every GWU Battleground Poll over the last sixteen years has shown the same overwhelming conservative majority in America. The size of the conservative...

There’s a lot of buzz these days about Andrea Tantaros, known to millions of viewers as a host of the Fox News show Outnumbered. However, the buzz has nothing to do with her new book. Tantaros, who was last seen on Outnumbered on Monday, is no longer appearing on Fox, and the network will only hint at the reason why. “Issues have arisen regarding Andrea’s contract, and Fox News Channel has determined it best that she take some time off. She is still under contract with the network,” Fox News said in a statement in reply to questions about Tantaros,...

EXCLUSIVE — Tea Party Founder: An Open Letter to Ted Cruz I have been fighting for conservative values since 1976 and have been involved as a volunteer in over 40 political campaigns. I have had the honor to have served as a delegate twice to the Republican National Convention. I am also one of the co-founders of the national tea party movement that began in 2009 and, in addition, I have served on the Tea Party Patriots Board of Directors since October of 2009. During the almost 40 years I have been involved with the political process, I have had...

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Crack-Up Today’s topic is smugness: a potent combination of hubris and envy smug - adjective \ˈsməg\- having or showing the annoying quality of people who feel very pleased or satisfied with their abilities, achievements, etc. synonyms:self-satisfied, self-congratulatory, complacent, superior, pleased with oneself, conceited Go ahead - Google  “smug” Images and see what you get.If you are smug enough you can confidently disregard the stuff you don’t...

What sort of man is lurking deep inside Donald Trump’s innards? [SNIP] Evolving? Projecting an image? Moderating? Back in the South those are code words for snookered, two-faced and phony-as-a-two-dollar-bill. Oh, Donald. What have you done? Say it isn’t so. “Donald Trump is telling the American people that he’s lying to us,” Sen. Ted Cruz said on the campaign trail Friday. “His campaign is now run by Washington lobbyists.” [SNIP] In just the past few days we’ve seen him begin to waffle on issues like abortion and religious liberty. Pro-life groups are extremely concerned by comments he made about rewriting...